We asked and you answered! During spring semester study week, we asked you to share your recommendations for books and podcasts to enjoy over summer break, and we got some excellent suggestions. No matter what genre you prefer, there’s a little something for everyone on these lists! Below is the full list of books and podcasts suggested by your fellow students, organized by category for easy browsing. If you’re in Ithaca this summer, swing by the library to check them out (or use Borrow Direct and Interlibrary Loan to obtain them from a partner library).
If you’re home for the summer, you can still enjoy access to the library! OverDrive allows current Cornell students, faculty, and staff to check out and download e-books and audiobooks. There are multiple options for accessing e-books and audiobooks via OverDrive:
- Install the Libby app to download books to a computer, phone, or other device.
- Read or listen online directly through your computer browser with OverDrive Read.
- Use your Amazon account and either a Kindle device or app to download Kindle formats.
In addition to Cornell’s OverDrive offerings you can sign up for a Tompkins County Public Library Card to take advantage of their collection. New York State residents may also apply for a New York Public Library Card and/or a Brooklyn Public Library Card to access their OverDrive content as well as other online resources.
Enjoy your summer and happy reading/listening!
Book Recommendations
- Persuasion, Jane Austen
- People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry
- Book Lovers, Emily Henry
- Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
- Red, White & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Act Your Age, Eve Brown, Talia Hibbert
- The Viscount Who Loved Me, Julia Quinn
- Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, Ashley Herring Blake
- The Simon Snow Trilogy, Rainbow Rowell
- Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell
- Seven Days in June, Tia Williams
- Bunny, Mona Awad
- Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
- The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson
- The Mistborn Trilogy, Brandon Sanderson
- Four Dead Queens, Astrid Scholte
- Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss
- Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
- The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
- The Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon
- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
- Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Toshikazu Kawaguchi
- The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende
- The Candy House, Jennifer Egan
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
- The Sentence, Louise Erdrich
- The Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu
- The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English, Lynne Murphy
- Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
- How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney
- The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, John Green
- Crying in H-Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner
- At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails, Sarah Bakewell
- Every action or romance isekai manhwa manga ever!
- Deserter, Junji Ito
- Laika, Nick Abadzis
- Wotakoi, Artur Fujita
- Nimona, ND Stevenson
- Paper Girls, Brian Vaughan
Podcast Recommendations
- Citations Needed, Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson
- The Proof, Simon Hill
- The Bald and the Beautiful, Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamo
- Aware and Aggravated, Leo Skepi
- Huberman Lab, Andrew Huberman
- The H3 Podcast: Families, Ethan and Hila Klein (h3h3productions)
- No New Notifications, Kanan Gill and Manek D’Silva
- You’re Wrong About, Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes
- Marsha’s Plate, Diamond Stylz
- Species, Macken Murphy
- Sibling Rivalry, Bob the Drag Queen and Monét X Change
- The Just Different Podcast, Darin & Jordan Starks
- Two Hot Takes, Morgan Absher
- The Happiness Lab, Dr. Laurie Santos (Pushkin)
- Modern Wisdom, Chris Williamson
- Critical Role C3: Bells Hells, Matthew Mercer
- Not Another D&D Podcast, Brian Murphy, Emily Axford, Jake Hurwitz, and Caldwell Tanne
- The Adventure Zone, Justin, Travis, Griffin, and Clint McElroy
- The Amelia Project, Imploding Fictions
- Binchtopia, Julia Hava and Eliza McLamb
- Lore, Aaron Mahnke
- Worlds Beyond Number, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Erika Ishii, Aabria Iyengar, and Lou Wilson (Fortunate Horse, Worlds Beyond Number)
- Spooked, Glynn Washington (Snap Judgment Studios and KQED & PRX)
- Radio Rental (Tenderfoot TV & Cadence13)
- Ologies, Alie Ward
- Guilty Pleasures, Zach Kornfeld, Kelsey Darragh, and Garrick Bernard (The Try Guys & Ramble)
- Las Culturistas, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang (Big Money Players Network and iHeartPodcasts)
- Trash Taste, Joey Bizinger; Connor Colquhoun; Garnt Maneetapho
- Philosophize This! Stephen West
- Bad Dates with Jameela Jamil (Wondery)
- Dolly Parton’s America, Jad Abumrad and Shima Oliaee (WNYC Studios)
- Normal Gossip, Kelsey McKinney (Radiotopia)
- Someone Knows Something, David Ridgen (CBC Podcasts)
- Serial, Sarah Koenig (Serial Productions & The New York Times)
- S-Town, Brian Reed (Serial Productions)
- Oh No Ross and Carrie, Ross Blocher and Carrie Poppy (Maximum Fun)
- Scamfluencers, Scaachi Koul and Sarah Hagi (Wondery)
- In the Dark, Madeleine Baran (The New Yorker)
- Inhuman: A True Crime Podcast, Haley Price and Andrea Shaenanigans
- Going West: A True Crime Podcast, Daphne Woolsoncroft and Heath Merryman
- Rotten Mango, Stephanie Soo
- Criminality, Melissa Rice and Rebekah Sebastian